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Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

Stone intended to speak with federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and federal Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel to ask them to consider all options to end the impasse, noting B.C. has no jurisdiction to legislate an end to the dispute because the port is federally regulated. However, a provincial information officer said late Monday there was no further update on Stone’s talks.

Stone said $126 million worth of cargo a day moves through the port, creating 96,000 direct and indirect jobs — 60,000 of those in B.C. — and the province has received several calls from companies, including a lumber mill in Merritt and manufacturing plant in Richmond, that fear they will have to temporarily shut down because they can’t receive their goods. A planer mill in Terrace has temporarily laid off 142 people until the dispute is resolved, he added.

“This is frustrating,” Stone said. “It’s doubly frustrating when it’s British Columbia’s economy at the pointy end of the stick. It’s B.C.’s jobs that are being compromised.”

Although the port doesn’t yet have a complete picture of how much the dispute has affected the economy since non-union drivers stopped work Feb. 26, roughly $750 million worth of container goods has been delayed each week — or $2.1 billion in total, port spokesman John Parker-Jervis said Monday.

“This is Day 20 (of the dispute),” said Parker-Jervis, noting that just a small percentage of truck traffic is moving. “We’ve seen on average about 15 per cent (per day of total truck cargo moved). Some trucks are getting in and out of the port.”

Container truck drivers say they will remain off the job at Port Metro Vancouver terminals indefinitely after a fruitless Sunday meeting between union leaders and government representatives.

The impasse prompted PMV president and CEO Robin Silvester to warn truckers they could face repercussions, including suspension or termination of their permits to operate at the port, if they did not get back in their rigs. The suspensions would apply to 1,200 non-unionized truckers who have contracts with Port Metro.

The federal government would not comment on whether it would take measures to end the dispute, saying in an email that it was proceeding with a 14-point plan “to get Port Metro Vancouver back to full operations.”

The email, from Jana Régimbal, press secretary to Raitt, maintains the plan addresses concerns raised by truckers in areas of compensation and waiting times, and the plan will be implemented once the port returns to full operation.

The email reiterates Silvester’s warning that “a continued refusal by some truckers to provide such service is likely to result in suspension or termination of their permits by Port Metro Vancouver.”

Warnings that truckers could lose their permits were “not helpful” and would mean unionized workers and the other 1,200 non-union truckers would remain off the job, said Gavin McGarrigle, a director for Unifor, the union representing about 400 drivers.

“What (the port) is saying is they’re contemplating a mass firing of everyone in the port. Maybe they don’t want to negotiate a settlement.”

McGarrigle said there were “glaring holes” in the plan document and they had serious questions about how the deal would work.

Meanwhile, there are indications that some cargo is already being diverted to other ports from Vancouver.

Peter McGraw, a spokesman for the Port of Seattle, said his port was preparing to handle goods that would normally have gone through Port Metro Vancouver.

“We know that some shippers, carriers, have decided to move some cargo down here,” he said, but added he did not yet have any concrete numbers as to how much was on its way.

Capt. Stephen Brown, the president of the Chamber of Shipping of British Columbia, which represents the interests of ocean carriers, noted that there has already been some cargo diversion to nearby ports like Seattle since the dispute began, but “on a fairly low level.”

He said some carriers that were en route to B.C. with import goods have already changed course to stop first in the U.S., then continue on to Vancouver, as a way to buy time.

However, Parker-Jervis said, no ships have turned around yet, and no ship calls have been cancelled.

Michael Gurney, a spokesman at the Prince Rupert Port Authority, said workers at that port have not moved a higher-than-normal volume of cargo since the Vancouver dispute began.

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